My Otari won't Play Half Track Tapes!

[ferriteman]

For the first time since getting my deck (MX-5050 BIII-P), I tried to play pre-recorded half track tapes. One is a very old "Orthophonic Stereo" tape I picked up on E-Bay, the other is a Tape Project tape.

When I try to play either of these tapes, the sound is garbled, with the head switch selected to 2-Track. When you flip it over to 4-Track, it sounds exactly the same...garbled, unlistenable. The deck plays 4-track OK.

So I'm thinking...maybe when they installed the head stack switch they forgot to wire it to the 2-Track head...and it's simply wired to the 4-Track head only? I suppose this is possible (remember that the head switch is not factory installed; it is installed by the distributor - Otari USA - as an additional option)....but there is just one thing: I have recorded and played back my own 2-track tapes with no problem, so is it possible that you can record/playback 2-track with your own tapes but not with pre-recorded tapes?

Could there be some other issue...alignment of the heads or something?

Any suggestions appreciated, but it is starting to look like I will have to take the deck in for servicing...

[joeljoel1947]

Wow, weird one. The 2-track head is there though physically, right?

Maybe the heads are misaligned and thats why you can make your own tapes but not play back commercial ones (i.e. its aligned for YOUR tapes your making but not commercial ones because its so far out of whack).

Other then that, the switches in the Otari sometimes have bad contacts. You could try an electrical cleaner on the switch which might not be "kicking in" when switched to 2 track. Sometimes even going back and forth with a switch like that a few dozen times can bring it back to life if its a bad contact.

[ferriteman]

Wow, weird one. The 2-track head is there though physically, right?

Maybe the heads are misaligned and thats why you can make your own tapes but not play back commercial ones (i.e. its aligned for YOUR tapes your making but not commercial ones because its so far out of whack).

Other then that, the switches in the Otari sometimes have bad contacts. You could try an electrical cleaner on the switch which might not be "kicking in" when switched to 2 track. Sometimes even going back and forth with a switch like that a few dozen times can bring it back to life if its a bad contact.

Hi Joel...well...there are 4 heads for sure in the stack, so I'm kind of assuming that it's there! I will try your suggestion with the contact cleaner...do you suggest just spraying the cleaner through every nick-and-cranny at the switch? I mean I won't have to remove the switch first will I?

Thanks for the suggestions...I will try them later tonight. I mean I don't have much to loose.

[joeljoel1947]

I would use something like Caig De-oxit contact spray on the switch and I think its best to remove the side panel and attack it from the back too. The headstack pops out too and it may not be a bad idea to remove that while spraying just in case something sprays wild. It pops right out of there.

[jcmusic]

Is it possible that you did not rewind the tape first? Maybe you put it on as a supply reel instead of a take up reel? I don't know just a thought.

Jay

[ferriteman]

Is it possible that you did not rewind the tape first? Maybe you put it on as a supply reel instead of a take up reel? I don't know just a thought.

Jay

Duh...I'm supposed to rewind it first?...I haven't had to do this for any 4-track tapes (they always seem to be wound to play from the beginning of side A) so I guess I assumed the same for half track tapes. I will try this out.

Come to think of it, the shinny side of the tape was facing towards the heads, it shouldn't (correct ?), this is normallly the backcoating of the tape, correct?

If you are right, I think Matt should place me back on "probationary" status as far as tapeheads membership goes!

[joeljoel1947]

Yeah, shiny should be the other way. The dull side of the tape should face you in most cases! Good call Jay. Could be a tails out tape woud the wrong way or a quater track tape playing on the wrong side.

[jcmusic]

Duh...I'm supposed to rewind it first?...I haven't had to do this for any 4-track tapes (they always seem to be wound to play from the beginning of side A) so I guess I assumed the same for half track tapes. I will try this out.

Come to think of it, the shinny side of the tape was facing towards the heads, it shouldn't (correct ?), this is normallly the backcoating of the tape, correct?

If you are right, I think Matt should place me back on "probationary" status as far as tapeheads membership goes!

With 4track tapes it doesn't matter which direction you start in, because the music is on both sides of the tape. With 2track tapes the music is only on one side of the tape, so it matters greatly which side of the tape you put on the heads. The reason you are hearing a very bad garbling and terrible sound from your tape is that it is playing backwards!!!!!!

Jay

[ferriteman]

With 4track tapes it doesn't matter which direction you start in, because the music is on both sides of the tape. With 2track tapes the music is only on one side of the tape, so it matters greatly which side of the tape you put on the heads. The reason you are hearing a very bad garbling and terrible sound from your tape is that it is playing backwards!!!!!!

Jay

Duh..Duh! I rewound the tape and you were right. Now I will quietly go to the "Tapeheads Hall of Shame" for a spanking!

Incidentally, when I play the tape it plays from the glossy side anyway (i.e. the gloss side faces the heads) which kind of suprises me, I thought the gloss-side was always the back-coating, so now I've learned otherwise.

Thanks to both of you for setting me straight!

[jcmusic]

I think on new tape it is that way.

Jay